Nitrate removal along a Colorado montane headwater stream : the role of bidirectional hydrologic exchange at reach to catchment scales

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Abstract

Bidirectional hydrologic exchanges between surface water and groundwater along a stream reach can act to dilute nutrient levels (physical processes), and/or can facilitate biogeochemical cycling (physical and biological processes). Such exchanges thus affect nitrogen transport within stream catchments, many of which have been altered in high-elevation locations along Colorado's Front Range due to elevated nitrogen levels from industrialization in recent decades. We applied a fully informed hydrologic mass balance model and nitrate mass balance model that include gross gains and gross losses along ...